Discovering the adversary, one day at a time

MSJ Around the Web

January 24, 2011

Well, sort of. I’m trying to be “back.” After a crazy 2010 in which I married a real life Frog and really turned 40. Not sure what my 40s will bring, but a few things are certain -- it will include counter-jihad, vulgar French idioms, petanque, and plenty of very fine wines. Unfortunately, it will also include English Premier and Ligue 1 “fuutbawl,” but that’s for a different post.

The two Aaron’s

Aaron, did some excellent work not too long ago exploring the connections between the online world of Swede suicide bomber, Taimour al-Abdaly and the online world of The Pest, aka Samir Khan.

Meanwhile, if you were reading Aaron Zelin’s Jihadology you would know that...

-- Bin Laden’s recent message to the French had nothing to say about the burqa law.

It is also through Aaron Z -- retweeted by the estimable Mr Orange -- that Mark Stout just posted a fascinating analysis of an early EIG (Egyptian Islamic Group) counter-intel piece.

One last thing...

I forgive you, Jarret...

...for employing any ideas that spring forth from the demented mind of 1998 Bad Writing contest winner, Judith Butler in your noble struggle against online jihadis. I admire your work. I loved your book. But the Butler reference is beyond the pale. She’s Lacan without the pen. Come back to us, Jarret, come back! Come back to the real world of applied jihad analysis! Sigh, well, if you insist on wasting your time in the dark chambers of post structuralism, just remember this: Sometimes a pen is just a pen.

December 21, 2009

It's back! Around the Web has returned (I know you've missed it). After thinking about it for some time, I admit that it's still the best way for me to keep up with the daily fire hose of information. And after a day of cooking (chicken chili soup anyone?), I’m ready to pick through the web for a little counter-terrorism fun.

Let's begin then...

One of the more intriguing recently thwarted plots comes to us from Bosnia .

New jihadi blog. New to me, anyway: http://madkhalis.com/

Hey, check out Aaron, all grown up and writing for Studies in Conflict and Terrorism: "Comparison of Visual Motifs in Jihadi and Cholo Videos on YouTube," Volume 32, Issue 12 December 2009 , pages 1066 – 1074

What this suggests to me is that we need to be able to speak / read not only spoken or written languages of our sources, suspects, informants and opponents — but also the language or underlying logic of their thought.

Charles, I call this “thinking with the adversary.” It’s a modification of an old Catholic theological principle.

I know this is old in blog-time, but I can’t resist writing this sentence: It was never 2000, and it’s not 50 now, and it was never 30 and it’s not 200 now. The numbers have always been in the 5 or 10s. Bradford’s law extends even to jihobbyists.